DURHAM, N.H. – Swimming and sunbathing in the summer heat are becoming distant memories, but beachgoers can extend the season at the University of New Hampshire’s first Know the Coast Day Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010. The free, family-friendly event offers the opportunity to meet the sea creatures, UNH scientists, research vessels and laboratories that comprise New Hampshire’s vibrant marine scene.

Hosted by the UNH Marine Program, Know the Coast Day invites the public to explore UNH’s three marine laboratories: Jackson Estuarine Lab on Great Bay in Durham, the Coastal Marine Research Facility in New Castle, and the Jere Chase Ocean Engineering Lab on the UNH campus in Durham. Events, which run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., are co-sponsored by the New Hampshire Sea Grant College Program and the UNH Marine Docents.

“Despite the modest length of our coastline, New Hampshire has deep roots to the marine environment, from the watersheds that feed Great Bay to the bay itself and to the marine environment in the open waters of the Gulf of Maine,” says Jon Pennock, director of the UNH Marine Program and N.H. Sea Grant College Program. “We look forward to introducing our neighbors to the UNH faculty and students who have worked to expand our knowledge about these fascinating ecosystems, from Great Bay and the Gulf of Maine to the world’s oceans.”

At Jackson Estuarine Lab at Adams Point, visitors can learn about oysters and eelgrass, step aboard the Gundalow, hike along the coast, and make a fish print. Cutting-edge technology, from ocean mapping and ocean renewable energy to the ocean engineering wave tank and buoys, will be on display at the Chase Ocean Engineering Lab. At the newly renovated Coastal Marine Research Facility, kids of all ages can get up close to lobsters, flounder, open ocean aquaculture, a commercial fishing vessel and numerous UNH research vessels.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.

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Photographs available to download:http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2010/sep/bp16ktc_01.jpg
On Know the Coast Day, Oct. 2, 2010, visitors to UNH’s Coastal Marine Research Facility in New Castle can visit university research vessels at the nearby pier.
Credit: Courtesy of UNH.

http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2010/sep/bp16ktc_03.jpg
At the Jackson Estuarine Lab on Adams Point in Durham, UNH researchers like professor of zoology Ray Grizzle (right) will share their findings on seagrass, oysters, marsh ecology, and other elements of the Great Bay Estuary during Know the Coast Day Oct. 2, 2010.
Credit: Courtesy of UNH.